


I Solemny Swear

by padfoot (pvrtypoison)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Misunderstandings, Post-Marauders' Era, Prisoner of Azkaban AU, Teacher Remus, The Marauder's Map
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 23:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7484853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pvrtypoison/pseuds/padfoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Impossible. Pettigrew is-" Remus' mumbling was cut off abruptly. </i><br/> </p><p> <i>"- Dead."</i></p><p> <br/>Sirius pays Remus a visit at Hogwarts one night, and finds out even his best friend thinks he's a mass murderer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Solemny Swear

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this while watching the Prisoner of Azkaban for the millionth time. I might have made up/added a thingy or two.
> 
> All the characters belong to J.K. Rowling

_"I_ _solemny_ _swear_ _that_ _I'm_ _up_ _to_ _no_ _good_ _."_  

Remus Lupin sat in his own Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. The chairs were empty, the room was dark, the castle was fast asleep. He found it calming to observe the Map at night. Only a few people were out of bed. Severus, Argus Filch, Fred and George Weasley – but he decided to ignore that. He liked the twins. They reminded him of – nevermind. His eyes scanned the ground floor, then up to the first, second, third, all the way up to the seventh floor. 

He saw something. Little footsteps were moving on the seventh floor. Remus' eyes widened. There must be a mistake, he thought. He read it over and over again.

"Peter Pettigrew", he mumbled. "Can't be". Yet a small dot with the name of Peter Pettigrew ran down the Seventh Floor Corridor. And the Map, the Map he made himself, does not lie. Remus closed his eyes and opened them again. Pettigrew was still there.  

"Impossible. Pettigrew is-" Remus' mumbling was cut off abruptly. 

"- Dead."  

Remus froze. Although he looked almost deceased, that's how pale en gray he was, Remus would never forget that face. He had loved that face for ten years. And he had hated it for twelve. Sirius Black.

"Nice to see you, Remus. _Expelliarmus_ ", he said when Remus grabbed his wand.  

"Where did you get that wand, Sirius?", Remus tried to ask calmly but he could not surpress the slight tremor in his voice.  

"Oh, this old thing? Stole it from some bloke in Dufftown. But it barely listens to me. Now, Moony, would you be so kind to give me the Map? _Our_ Map?" Remus was dumbfounded by the way Sirius Black spoke to him, as if they where old friends. Well, they were friends. Until Sirius got himself some cool tattoos including the Dark fucking Mark. Remus put aside his old grudges. Protecting Harry was most important right now.  

"Please, Sirius. This won't solve anything. Don't kill him." Remus took a step back with every step Sirius took forward. The escaped convict said nothing, which made the teacher more and more nervous.  

"Sirius- Sirius please. Don't kill Harry, it won't solv-"  

"Harry?" Sirius cut him off again. "Wait, Remus, you don't believe in those Ministry lies, do you?" 

Remus frowned. "I'm not here for Harry", Sirius clarified. He sounded sincere. He sounded like the Sirius he used to know, when he had one of his rare serious moments. He sounded like the Sirius he loved. 

"Then why are you here?" Remus was shaking a bit. Memories came back; good ones, bad ones, all at the same time. Sirius and him. _Lily_ _and_ _James_. And of course - 

"Peter Pettigrew." Remus gawked at him. "I'm here for Peter Pettigrew."  

Remus shook his head. The situation was surreal, his brain couldn't think straight anymore, he just didn't understand any of the words Sirius spoke to him. It doesn't make any sense. "But Peter is dead," Remus said slowly. "You killed him."  

His voice was light, weak even. Not accusing, not angry or scared, but weak. He hadn't stopped shaking yet, on the contrary, it had gotten worse. His head felt like there was a bee trapped inside. His vision turned foggy, probably by the tears he didn't know his eyes were forming, and those damn memories kept flashing before his eyes. He flinched slightly when he felt Sirius Black put his hands on his shoulders and softly lead him to a chair to sit down. Remus buried his head in his hands. Sirius waited until Remus had calmed down. When he finally did, Sirius started talking. 

"The night James and Lily died, they were being protected by the Fidelius Charm. Dumbledore had suggested that they should choose a Secret Keeper, which was initially supposed to be me. I persuaded James to take Peter instead, as a diversion", Sirius paused at this moment and let out a sigh full of regret. 

"Peter betrayed them. When I went to his hiding place, he was not there. And then I went to Godric's Hollow. The house was in ruins. Hagrid was still there. I gave him my motorcycle for Merlin's sake. I found Pettigrew the next day, cornered him and then he started yelling for the whole street to hear that I’d betrayed Lily and James. Then before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself, and sped down into the sewer with the other rats. He killed twelve muggles with that explosion. I can still see their bodyparts lying around me. Feel their blood splatter in my face. I couldn't move, I just stood there. The person I was convinced would do the job right, turned out to be the traitor I was so afraid of. At that point Fudge turned up and I was in Azkaban without a trial. They gave me life in prison and that rat the Order of Merlin First Class."  

Sirius looked down and let out another trembling sigh. A tear fell down Remus' face and fell on the small school desk. Harry Potter usually sat at this desk, when he was standing in the front, explaining about boggarts, banshees and red caps.  

"So- So is it true then?", Remus said pointing at the Map, "Peter Pettigrew is alive?" Sirius nodded.  

"I want to believe you, Sirius, I really do. Twelve years... twelve years." The last part Remus whispered, more to himself than to Sirius. It had been such a long time. So many full moons without his friends.  

"I'm not asking you to believe me", Sirius said. "You can see it for yourself, when I find that rat." Sirius grabbed the Marauder's Map and searched for Peter Pettigrew. He was in the Gryffindor common room.  

"Wait, wait Sirius. You can't rush into the common room again. If they find you here they will kill you on sight." Remus rushed to say. "You have to be patient. You can't kill him here, on school grounds." 

"Then where do you suggest?" Sirius retaliated. He was exhausted, weakened and starved to the bone. Remus knew he didn't look good himself. They both looked nothing like they used to. Remus was about to say he didn't know, but then he got an idea. 

"Where is your imagination, Padfoot?" Sirius' eyes widened at the mention of his nickname, but still looked confused. "The Shrieking Shack", Remus explained. 

"Still nobody who knows about that passage?" Sirius asked.   
    
"No."   
   
"Well, I suppose..." Sirius looked at Remus. Somehow, he got back a little bit of the twinkle in his eyes he always used to have when they were younger. He stood up.  

"You'll know when the time is right, Moony", he said and began to walk out of the classroom. 

"Sirius", Remus said while he got up from his chair. He walked to where Sirius stood, and wrapped his arms around the unhealthily thin man.  

"I'm sorry", he whispered. "I'm so sorry." For Azkaban, for twelve years, for believing the newspapers, for _James_ _and_ _Lily._ Sirius understood. He just held him, for the first time in twelve years he held someone he loved. He wished he could hold on to his Moony forever. When they parted, Sirius looked Remus in the face for one last time.  

"We'll get him, Moony. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for."

He turned around, transformed himself into a black dog and left.  

" _Mischief managed_."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so so much for reading this!  
> Now I should maybe explain myself. I wanted to write Remus and Sirius in an emotional way, because at this point, it's not about Peter Pettigrew (later in the Shrieking Shack it is) but about each other and the twelve years they didn't see eachother.  
> Remus thinks he hates Sirius all these years but when he finally sees him again, he just can't be angry. He just feels all the emotions he's been shutting out for years, all at once which causes him to break down. 
> 
> Also sorry for grammar mistakes, English is not my first language. Thanks for putting up with my garbage y'all.


End file.
